Residents urged to flee out-of-control bushfire in East Gippsland
A watch and act alert has been upgraded to an emergency warning for an out-of-control bushfire burning 10km north of Timbarra, near Buchan in East Gippsland.
The bushfire is travelling in a southerly direction towards the Timbarra Settlement and Gillingal, with spot fires burning up to five kilometres ahead of the main fire front.
The towns could be impacted within the next few hours, the warning says.
Residents have been told that leaving now is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous. A relief centre has been set up at the Buchan Recreation Reserve on Orbost Road.
There is also a watch and act message for nearby Butchers Ridge, W-Tree and Murrindal. Residents of those areas have also been told leaving is the safest option.
The cool change is not expected to reach East Gippsland until 11pm.
"Conditions may change, and get worse very quickly," the alert reads.
CFA incident controller John Crane said there were roughly 56 properties in the Timbarra and Gillingal area.
"We are talking about 32 properties, eight dwellings in Timbarra and 16 in Gillingal," he said.
"One fire is impacting on four areas of the community in different ways... What happened is the fire has gotten over the control line, and created spot fires which have built up their own level of intensity and created their own spot fires.
"In a typical growing bushfire environment, there are spot fires ahead of spot fires, growing together and moving rapidly through the alpine environment."
"The temperature is increasing, the winds are increasing as has been predicted... Now the wind change is not due until 11pm tonight. That community is facing a long day with quite challenging fire conditions."
He urged locals to observe the messages and advice from trusted sources such as ABC radio and the VicEmergency app, and to enact their bushfire survival plan.
A total fire ban has been declared for Friday, with hot, dry and gusty winds leading to a "very high to extreme" fire danger rating across the state.
There are a number of other bushfires burning across Victoria, which are all classified as under control at the moment.